Class of 2023 RD *results only* - Washington U SL

Colleges and Universities A-Z Washington University in St. Louis
1

I did not see a thread with results only for RD. I am interested to see everyone’s stats.

[noparse]
Pick one:
Decision: Accepted
Decision: Deferred
Decision: Rejected

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown):
ACT:
SAT II:
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parenthesis):
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load:
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service:
Summer Activities:
Essays:
Teacher Recommendation:
Counselor Rec:
Additional Rec:
Interview:

Other

State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant):
Intended major(s):
School Type:
Ethnicity:
Gender:
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflection

Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected:

General Comments

2

I’ll be the first one! Accepted RD, and I committed yesterday. SO excited.

Objective:

ACT: 35
Unweighted GPA: I’ve honestly never calculated this because my school only weighs, but weighted I have a 4.34
Rank: Both unavailable
AP: World History (4), US History (5), Lang & Comp (5), US Government (5), Psychology (5)
Senior Year Course Load: Sociology, Film Studies, Calculus, AP Seminar, AP Comparative Government & Politics, AP Spanish Language
Major Awards: NSDA Academic All-American, IPPF Top 32, some locals

Subjective:

Extracurriculars: Speech & Debate (captain, secretary), Spanish Culture Club (president), varsity lacrosse
Job/Work Experience: 3 jobs in high school: Administrative assistant at a gym, worked at a restaurant, and currently work in retail at a local candy/toy store
Volunteer/Community service: Organize Pulsera Project fundraiser yearly, yearly community food drive, misc work with Hope for the Day
Summer Activities: Work, work and more work
Essays: Good. Common app about going to concerts, and supplemental about the trolley problem
Teacher Recommendation: Probably both good. 2 teachers I had twice (9th and 11th grade)
Counselor Rec: Also probably pretty strong
Interview: With a local alum whose daughter I coincidentally knew. Went well.

Other

State: Ohio
Intended major(s): Political science & philosophy, minor in Spanish
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: Weird because I have divorced parents, but around 100k

Reflection

Strengths: Essays and demonstrated interest for sure. Speech & debate I’m sure helped as well, as a captain, officer, state and national qualifier. ACT.
Weaknesses: Senior year grades slipped slightly, and I lacked in advanced classes in STEM compared to others. I also had some attendance problems (but I explained those well I think)
Why you think you were accepted: I had a ton of demonstrated interest, I emailed with admissions officers and professors, visited twice, and met in person with my local admissions counselor and a professor. My scores are in the right range.

Congrats to everyone accepted! Hope to see some of you on campus next year!

3

Decision: Accepted

For DD…

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): None
ACT (breakdown): 36, all sections, took once
SAT II: Did not send
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.77
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School doesn’t rank
AP (place score in parenthesis): Calc BC (5), Chemistry (5), Seminar (5), US Gov (5), APUSH (5).
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: Calc 3 (dual enrollment), Diff Equations (dual enrollment), AP Bio, AP Eng Lit, AP Macroeconomics, AP Physics C, AP Research
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nothing crazy. NMF and AP Scholar with Distinction. A couple of regional prizes related to National History Day. Sent update to admissions after being named U.S. Presidential Scholar candidate.

Subjective:
Extracurriculars: Student Government (Sr Class Officer, rep other years), Key Club (Officer), National History Day (President)
Job/Work Experience: Babysitting 10 hrs/wk (30 hrs/wk in summer)
Volunteer/Community service: Hospital volunteer grades 11 and 12, Key Club per above
Summer Activities: Babysitting, per above
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Who knows. Common App essay was narrative/descriptive piece about how her coffee cup collection reflects her life interests and values. Supplemental essay was about her interest in genetics and its ethical impact, and how those would combine with her interest in history at WashU

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): Can’t really rank; didn’t see. Should be good though…she has great relationships with her teachers and the administration
Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details): Knows her well, went on school trip to South Africa with her last summer. Thinks D is hilarious
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details): Had D for two years so knows her well
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): Doesn’t know her as intimately as the teachers but knows she is the top student in her class. Recommended her as class nominee for several selective scholarships
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details):
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details): Met with student during visit to campus in November. Met AO when he visited her high school

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major:Biomedical engineering
State (if domestic applicant): Ohio
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None

Reflections: Could have gone either way. VERY happy to receive good news from WashU!
Strengths: Pristine grades and scores. Demonstrated interest. Good personality.
Weaknesses: ECs solid but not jaw dropping in this applicant pool. No national notoriety. No athletics.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: WashU is a great fit for DD. She loves both the academics and midwest feel. She is friendly and collaborative, and I believe that her personality came through her application and contacts with the admissions dept.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Alabama, Virginia, Georgia Tech, and U of Miami. Waitlisted (=denied, oh well) UNC. Waiting on USC, Vanderbilt, Duke, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, and Dartmouth

General Comments: Unless something unexpected and extraordinary happens, and as long as the comparative finances make sense, my guess is that D will be a WashU Bear next year. She LOVES this school!!!

4

Waitlisted

  • ACT (Comp, Essay, Eng, Math, Read, Sci): 35 (36 E, 35 M, 35 R, 33 S)
  • SAT II (Type, Score): Math II (800), US History (800)
  • Weighted GPA (out of ??): 4.45/4.0 (total of 11 APs w/all As at my school)
  • Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
  • Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 6/750
  • AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Bio (4), AP Euro (5), AP Lang (5), AP Calc BC (5), AP Enviro (5), APUSH (5), AP CSP (5)
  • Senior Year Course Load: AP Stats, AP Physics C, AP Lit, AP US Gov, AP Psych online, Multivariable Calculus online thru JH CTY, Ordinary Differential Equations through local community college
  • Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): No major awards (rip) -- just the usual stuff like National AP Scholar, National Merit Commended, and CSF Sealbearer Candidate. I also put some math award I got from my teacher who's head of the math department of my school and some track/cross country awards I believe (I was rly fishing for awards to put on my common app lol)

Subjective:

  • Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): cross country (captain for two years), track (captain for two years), stem cell research, summer camp counselor, paid tutor (manager of local business), peer tutor, school newspaper (sports editor), volunteer at local hospital, math club (secretary)
  • Job/Work Experience: paid tutor and summer camp counselor
  • Volunteer/Community service: volunteer at local hospital
  • Summer Activities: not much bc I spent most of my summers training for xc and working at that summer camp, but I also went to two of those ridiculously expensive summer programs at schools (did one at Georgetown, where I didn't even apply, and WashU, where I was waitlisted lol)
  • Essays: Common App was like a 7/10; I thought my supplement was like an 8/10
  • Teacher Recommendations: the one from my math teacher was probs a 9/10 bc she rly liked me and the other was from my English teacher and was probs like a 7.5/10
  • Counselor Rec: 6/10 -- I go to a huge public school. I don't even think my counselor knows my name. these are super generic for every student at my school.

Other

  • State (if domestic applicant): CA
  • School Type: public school w/2800+ students
  • Ethnicity: white
  • Gender: female
  • Income Bracket: >250,000
  • Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): dad went to Northwestern but doesn't donate $$$
  • Why you think you were accepted/not accepted and general comments: idk. I went to a 2-week summer program and met w/the AO at my school, so I had the demonstrated interest. I also liked my essay. I guess they didn't like it tho lol

Decisions for other schools

  • Accepted: Northwestern, Wesleyan, UCLA, UVA (oos as echols scholar), BU, Oxford College @ Emory, UCSB, UC Davis, UCSD, UConn
  • Waitlisted: Emory and Middlebury
  • Rejected: UChicago after EA deferral
  • Also, deferred from UPenn ED
5

Accepted!
I relied on these when applying to colleges so here goes for future applicants. Good luck!!

Objective:
ACT: 35 (36 E, 36 R, 32 M, 34 S)
SAT II: Biology E (710) English Literature (710)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank: 16/445
AP: AP Gov (5), AP Human Geo (5), AP Biology (4), AP Psychology (5), AP World (5), AP Lang and Comp (5)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc, AP Physics 1, AP Literature, AP US History, ASL
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): not many, AP Scholar w Distinction maybe

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Cello (First Chair in school and made all-county), Cross Country (Varsity A), Club Swim Team (all-state team), High School Swim team, Orchestra (Vice President), piano for many years, research with Bio club
Job/Work Experience: Internship at Hopkins Hospital, volunteer at local medical center, class officer, tutor for NHS and tutored students in Japan
Volunteer/Community service: got accepted into a community service/leadership program at my high school, started a community service thing for my church youth group, some stuff for several honor societies like tutoring and volunteering at various places
Summer Activities: traveling to Japan (I speak the language), Hopkins internship, and a Brown University course
Essays: I attended a WashU webinar abt their supplement and it really helped me write a unique one about playing the piano and how it reflected my growth and persistence etc. Common App was abt my identity as a mixed race person and being in a military family, very unique.
Teacher Recommendation: I didn’t read my math teacher’s but probably around 8/10 she liked me, English teacher around the same
Counselor Rec: I actually ended up seeing the letter she wrote, nothing great and actually had a few mistakes yikes, 7/10
Additional Rec: my boss at Hopkins wrote me a great one (9/10) and I got one from my orchestra teacher
Interview: didn’t get an interview

Other:
State (if domestic applicant): MD
Intended major(s): Neuroscience
School Type: public
Ethnicity: mixed; half asian and white
Gender: female
Income Bracket: like 100k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none

Reflection
Strengths: I knew I wouldn’t be able to visit campus so I showed a TON of interest to make up for it; attending aforementioned webinar, emailing AO, emailing professor whose program I was interested in, applying for several programs within Wash U (Danforth and University Scholars in Medicine, got into neither of them tho). My essays were both unique and hopefully interesting to read. Also I submitted arts supplement for cello, idk if it helped though.
Weaknesses: I was concerned about letters of rec sinceI felt like they weren’t anything great, and overall I was worried that my extracurriculars just wouldn’t make the cut, also didn’t have any super major awards
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I really showed myself as a unique applicant and was well-rounded (sports, music, community service). Also, I showed lots of interest. Overall, I think WashU really values having a diverse community. Really show yourself for the unique individual you are, maybe email some faculty, and submit arts supplements if you are artistically inclined! Still can’t believe I got in, really hoping to attend : )

Decisions for other schools:
Got into Oxford College at Emory, University of Maryland College Park (honors college + merit scholarship), WashU
Waitlisted from Case Western and Emory
Haven’t heard back from Vassar, Rice, Princeton, or Brown (applied ED but deferred)